


How strange

by mizutsunecafe



Category: Yandere Simulator (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-07-16 14:59:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7272808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizutsunecafe/pseuds/mizutsunecafe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ayano doesn't typically feel a thing when she sees others suffer- but when she overhears a conversation, she suddenly finds herself... concerned. At least, she thinks it's concern. But it's still so strange, so new...</p><p>On hiatus, with plans to update by August 2018.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Of calls and conversations

At first glance, Ayano Aishi was not, outwardly, the kind of girl that would kill another girl for any petty reason. She was not the kind of girl capable of violence, or sabotage, or anything of the sort. 

But of course, that assumption could be proven wrong if one merely looked at the bloody uniform currently in her hands. One Osana Najimi, killed, in Ayano’s eyes, for a perfectly just reason. Her crime? Getting too close to her beloved Senpai. As his childhood friend, in an almost laughably cliche manner, she’d developed feelings for the boy and, had Ayano not acted, would be currently plotting to confess to Senpai under the cherry tree- a crime that Ayano could not allow Osana to carry out.

So now she walked to the incinerator, dropping the uniform in with the body and weapon she’d used- a knife, one she was quite fond of, and admittedly would feel a little bad about leaving it behind to be burned to bits- and closed and locked the door, activating it. She felt almost gleeful as she felt the warmth start, and hurried back out to the path. Of course someone had seen her hurry off towards Osana, hadn’t they?

But everyone was silent, even her beloved, dear, darling Senpai, as she walked past him, blissfully unaware that Ayano had just taken down a rival for his affections. She felt her heart pound and clasped her hands together, looking down, heard his beautiful, melodious voice ponder aloud. “What’s up with her?”

She giggled, wanting nothing more than to reach out to him and ask him to meet her under the tree, but she resisted the urge, hurrying home, stalking Senpai as he walked back to his house- thank goodness they lived on the same street. She stayed ten yards back, watching him carefully as he went inside, lingering, hidden, by his gate to make sure he made it, that there was no one lurking outside to steal her from him.

Nine more weeks ‘till her parents returned from overseas. 

She took one of the mangas off her shelf- it’d be an uneventful two or so days now. She’d confess to him next week, yes. That would give him enough time to stop wondering where Osana went, after all. And enough time to devise an entirely new plan should someone else try to snatch him away.

 

The school week turned to the weekend, and a new week began. She sighed as she arrived first at school as always, waiting by the gate. Senpai always got there just after her- they were meant to be, absolutely meant to be! She felt her heart pounding, her gaze softening, her breath growing short. When this feeling had first hit her at the sight of this boy, she was stunned, too scared to say a thing, too fearful to even react. The symptoms she felt dictated a heart attack, and she’d run to the school nurse. 

She’d laughed, told her after checking her vitals that she was experiencing the symptoms of a “crush” and sent her back to class with a clean bill of health.

She watched him as he went inside to his locker to put on his school shoes, and Ayano sighed, leaning against the gate and watching him happily. More students arrived, and she bid them all hello, giving them all sweet smiles and kind, polite bows and waves. Pay a compliment or two, a kindness or three. 

Today she’d opted to lurk by the gate. She’d noticed something there and was quite curious. Perhaps Senpai had dropped it? She knelt down and investigated it- yes! It was one of his! She squealed as she picked up the button, tiny and gold and precious, clutching it to her chest. 

She jumped, hearing a voice. 

“Hello?”

Ayano looked around, panic hitting her hard. Had someone seen her acting so strange? 

It seemed to not be the case. A girl from Senpai’s class- her name was Kokona Haruka- was standing by the now-empty front entrance of the school, having taken a phone call.

“I told you not to call me while I’m at school!” Kokona sounded furious, her free hand balled into a tight fist. “Like I said, that was a one-time thing! I don’t wanna do that again!”

It was quiet for a moment, and she hesitated. “… How much… did you say?”

She sighed in defeat. “Well… if it’s just one more time, I guess it’s okay… How about tonight? Where we met before, in Shisuta town?”

Another brief silence. “… Okay. See you tonight.” Kokona didn’t exactly sound happy. And as she hung up the call and buried her face in her hands, Ayano knew she wasn’t happy about this deal.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this…!” Kokona practically sobbed, but held back her tears, taking a moment before giving a shaky sigh. 

She wanted to watch Senpai at the fountain, but something sparked in her- something that Ayano couldn’t quite grasp. Something… warm. Kokona was unhappy. She was dating a strange man, by the sounds of it- compensated dating. That’d keep her away from Senpai. 

So why did she feel… different?

She shook the feeling off and headed to class early, settling into her seat and waiting for class to begin. She’d sort the feeling out later. Perhaps at lunch.

Ayano studied her biology and caligraphy lessons to the best of her ability, but Kokona kept creeping into her mind. She was incredibly grateful when their teacher dismissed them, and she hurried out of the classroom, wandering up to the rooftop. It always made her feel a bit better, being able to see what everyone was doing.

She leaned against the railing, watching her Senpai far below, sighing happily. Even from far away, he was so handsome and perfect and—

Footsteps. Ayano turned around, eyes scanning to see where the sound was coming from. Her eyes locked onto Saki Miyu and Kokona Haruka, walking and talking softly. Slowly she inched towards them, slowly enough that neither of them would notice her moving. 

“You… haven’t been yourself lately, Kokona,” Saki said, lips turned down in a concerned frown. “Is something bothering you?”

“It’s nothing…”

“Kokona, I want you to remember something. If something’s bothering you, you can tell me. I’m your friend, and I’d never judge you for anything.”

“… Can we go somewhere else to talk?” Kokona responded with a sigh, her shoulders heaving. Saki nodded and led her behind one of the AC units, and Ayano followed, her footfalls silent from months of practice. She crouched behind the AC unit, listening carefully over its quiet hum.

“Um… Ever since my mom died,” Kokona began, her voice heavy with sadness already. “My dad’s been drinking a lot. Sometimes, when he’s drunk, he comes into my room, and…” She hesitated and stopped. “Ugh, just… just forget I said anything! I really, really don’t wanna talk about it…” She sniffled, and Saki gasped.

“What?! That’s… that’s really serious! What does your dad do?!” Concern was clear in her voice, and Ayano heard Saki take a step forward as she spoke. 

“I really don’t want to talk about it. Just… leave me alone, okay?” Kokona stepped back, away from Saki, her voice shaking. Ayano felt something strange in her heart again, something akin the the pain she’d felt the first time she’d run her thumb over the blade of a knife. 

“You have nothing to be ashamed of! Please, it’s okay! You can tell me.” Saki was trying to reassure her now, but Kokona didn’t want to hear it, it seemed. 

“Please, please, just drop it…” Her voice cracked, and Saki sighed in defeat. 

“… Okay… but now I’m really worried.”

Ayano crept away, hiding in the doors leading downstairs as the two friends left the rooftop, thankfully the other way around.

The day was uneventful otherwise. But Ayano still found herself with that strange feeling. She imagined Kokona going home, dealing with her drunken father as he went to her room and hurt her, then once he passed out Kokona would doll herself up and go out to Shisuta town, spend time with some old man she barely knew, possibly not even get home until the early morning. 

That knife-slicing feeling hit her again.

It was hard to focus on her classes, thinking about that. Even though she’d overheard Kokona mention off-hand a while back as she passed her in the halls that she had feelings for her friend.

Her friend, Senpai.  
Kokona was occupied with this man, yes. So perhaps for now she’d be away from Senpai. But what if that man stopped offering her more and more money? What if this man stopped calling? From what Ayano could tell, Kokona was a sweet girl. She made snacks for her friends all the time, provided a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on to her friends…

She’d have Senpai's feelings in a moment or less.

That couldn’t stand.

She had to figure out some way to stop Kokona from getting Senpai’s feelings. Killing her, of course, would be easy- just like Osana. 

But Kokona was almost always with friends. It’d be hard to get her alone.

Unless…

The final bell rang for the day, and Ayano hurried over to the class where the object of her affection and the subject of her thoughts studied. She remained hidden, hoping to catch a glimpse of Senpai before she spoke with Kokona.

She saw him, and her heart fluttered, her breath caught, her face flushed. She stealthily snapped a picture, saving it, sighing happily as he walked away. 

And then she saw Kokona. 

Ayano walked up to her, greeting her politely.

“Good afternoon, Kokona-chan.”

“Oh, Yan-chan. Is… everything alright?” Kokona used that old nickname still- she’d gotten it all the way back in grade school- some other classmate had dubbed “Ayano” too hard to pronounced, and admittedly Ayano was quite fond of it. She found herself wondering how it’d sound to hear Senpai say her nickname, and had to pinch herself on the arm to snap herself back to reality. 

“No, nothing’s wrong. I was just wondering… Is there anything I can do to help you? You’ve seemed stressed lately. I thought maybe I could do something to take some of the weight off your shoulders.”

Kokona’s eyes went wide, and she started to refuse- but she sighed. “There is… one thing.” Truth be told, Ayano was the very model of a good student and friend, regularly socializing with everyone. But it was faked. She only really felt things around Senpai- and now, Kokona. All else was a game of sorts, a way to pass time.

“Well, go on.”

“It’s… my uniform. I can’t afford a new one right now, but it’s tight around the chest.” Kokona sighed, her voice going quiet and her face going red. “It’s really uncomfortable… B-but, um, I don’t know what you’d be able to really do about it…”  
“Don’t worry, Kokona. Leave it to me.” Ayano smiled.

Kokona’s eyes went wide, and she smiled bashfully. “… Thank you, Yan-chan.”

“My pleasure.”


	2. Confusion and Emotion

Getting ahold of the new uniform the next morning wasn’t so difficult. Info-chan typically wasn’t quick to just give her a discount, but when Ayano requested the drop, she’d simply responded “this one’s on me” and told her to wait under her window. 

No sooner had she reached the spot did the uniform come floating down to her, landing softly on the grass. She picked it up, not sparing a glance to the window above, making a beeline to the locker room. She could guesstimate Kokona’s measurements, of course, but she’d much rather be exact. 

The locker room was filled with steam as usual- someone was probably taking a bath. Ayano would have to work fast if she didn’t want to get caught poking around another girl’s locker. She cautiously picked the lock, smiling in satisfaction as it popped open. Sure enough, the locker was filled with Kokona’s things. There was a moment where Ayano was tempted to do something with some of those things- she could take that little pencil case and use a well-loved writing utensil to stab someone, framing her for murder and getting her out of the picture. She could steal her gym clothes and make her have to walk around in a swimsuit all day if something got spilled on her, humiliating her. She could steal her hair clips so she wouldn’t be able to fix her hair back into her pigtails…

But something stopped her. 

Ayano slipped a measuring tape from one of her skirt pockets, measuring the bust, waist, and hip measurements of the gym clothes. The shirt was stretched, and even then she was fairly certain it was too small. She thought for a moment, memorizing the number, then got the other two measurements, and hurried from the locker room. 

Ayano passed through the front hall of the school, waving hello to the few people lingering by their lockers changing their shoes. She ran through the hall, knowing she wouldn’t get stopped by anyone, and up to the sewing club room. Once she reached her location, she investigated the seams, discovering that there was enough fabric to let out the seams quite a lot. She got to work, remembering all her mother had taught her when she was making the skirt to fit her- Ryoba had had to bring the seams in, so it was the same, just inverted, right?

It was a little harder that Ayano had expected, but she wound up doing a much better job than she initially expected. There was a brief twinge of pride at her work, but it faded as soon as it’d come. This was normal, and Ayano barely even reacted. She hurried back down the stairs and to the courtyard, then approaching Kokona with the tailored uniform folded neatly in her hands. 

“Kokona?” Ayano said simply, her voice silencing the conversation. She ensured the uniform was out of sight of the rest of the girls, meaning Kokona could evade embarrassment. The girl looked up in surprise, walking over to her.

“What is it, Yan-chan?” Behind Kokona her friends resumed talking, meaning Ayano could reveal the uniform to her now. 

She wondered for a moment why it mattered to her so much that Kokona not be embarrassed. Why did that idea make her feel so… uncomfortable?

“Here. I was able to fix this up for you.” Ayano thrust the thoughts out of her mind and the uniform into Kokona’s hand. “It should fit much better now.”

“Hey, can you come with me to try it on?” She asked, pointing towards the bathroom near the third-floor classroom. Ayano nodded, her mind flooding with ideas. She could drown Kokona in the toilet, in the sink, electrocute her, dump water on her—

Kokona was already walking, and Ayano lost in thoughts. The second-year hurried after her, entering the bathroom behind Kokona as she walked into the stall. Ayano always felt on edge when she was there, as though some chilling presence was staring at her. The sooner they got out of that dark bathroom, the better. 

Perhaps Ayano had made a mention of how dark it seemed without noticing, as Kokona spoke up from one of the stalls. “You sure, Yan-chan? It’s normal to me, if a little cold. Are you feeling okay?”

Why did her concern make her feel… warm? She forgot all about the chill for a moment. 

“I’m… Fine.”

The stall door opened, and Kokona walked out of the stall, looking at herself in the mirror before smiling in pure joy. 

Ayano wasn’t sure what she said, because when she looked at her with such happiness a strange feeling welled up within her. She politely excused herself, telling her she was welcome for the uniform and claiming it was becoming too close to class time, and hurried off to her classroom.

It was even harder to pay attention to her class work today. She couldn’t get Kokona’s smile out of her mind. Even if that girl couldn’t have her Senpai, at the very least she’d figure out some way to keep her smiling.

She sat in her chair, tapping her pencil against the paper of one of her notebooks. 

She began writing something down.

Kokona-chan,

Please meet me on the rooftop at 4 after school. I want to talk to you about domestic abuse. 

She figured not to sign it, and once class was done she hurried down to the shoe lockers, tucking the note into Kokona’s locker. She then hurried off to go for a walk. Perhaps if she wandered around outside for a bit it’d clear her head. 

Almost no sooner than her leaving through one of the side doors of Akademi High to the outside field than did she hear a particularly cloying voice whining from not too far away.

“Like, ohh my gawd… I so need a smoke right now…”

Musume’s voice. Ayano narrowed her eyes. Musume was in Kokona’s friend group, but as of late she’d become a bit haughty with her wealth. It was little secret that she had rich parents and plenty of money from shady sources. 

Perhaps this would come in handy to earn her trust. 

Ayano whipped out her phone, sending a few panty shots to Info-chan, smiling when she saw the cigarettes drop out of the window. She gave a glance up, making brief eye contact with a smirking Info-chan, then walked over to Musume. 

Of course, Ayano didn’t smoke. She thought such a thing was pointless. But she found herself grinning the closer she got to Musume. She could lace the cigarettes with poison, drop them “accidentally” in some gasoline before handing Musume the box. 

Tempting, but much more worth it to keep her alive for now.

“Musume-chan?” Ayano’s voice tended to have a way to quiet other people’s voices. She never really wondered why, as it always did come in handy. “You wanted some cigarettes? I don’t smoke, but I have a friend…”

Musume’s eyes lit up when she saw the carton, almost prancing up to her to snatch them from her hand, yanking one out and lighting it up. “Like, oh, em, gee! You are like, the best. You just instantly became my BFF!” She giggled, smiling widely.

And Ayano felt nothing but perhaps a hint of annoyance. 

She gave her a smile in return and waved goodbye, returning to class. As she passed by the shoe lockers, she remembered why she’d gone outside in the first place, feeling her stomach drop and her heart pound. She’d made an appointment with Kokona. To meet her, to talk to her. 

Her mind flooded with things she could do- take her down in privacy and dump the body in a dumpster, make her fake a suicide, bash her head against the air conditioner. 

But that thought filled her with horrible feelings. Her hands shook, and she faltered on the stair-step she was on, taking a moment to catch her breath as she leaned against the wall, both hands clinging to the handrail for dear life. As her breath slowly returned to normal, she stood back up, feeling her legs still quivering as she walked back to her classroom and sitting down, grateful for her typically unreadable neutral expression.

She told herself that if Kokona came to see her that afternoon, she’d spare her life for certain. She could figure out a way to have Kokona in her debt, or to earn her trust to make her stay away from Senpai. And then Senpai would be all hers. 

If Kokona didn’t, though? Well, then she’d be more than happy to introduce her to her new favorite knife.

As her classmates walked back into class, Ayano stifled a giggle.

An interesting afternoon, indeed…


	3. Into Action

Ayano frowned as she waited at the rooftop, leaning against the railing. Her senses were trained to hear any sound, any approaching footsteps, and the chances of her being caught unaware lowered with every passing moment.

It didn’t take long for a set of footsteps to start making their way up the stairs nearby, and she jumped to attention, looking around as Kokona slowly came around the air conditioning unit. 

Part of her was disappointed, but most of her found herself relieved.

“Oh! You’re the one who wanted to meet me here?” Kokona tilted her head as if surprised, and Ayano nodded. “Your note said you wanted to talk to me about… domestic abuse…?” But now her expression soured, turning a bit suspicious.

“Yes. I over heard your conversation with Saki Miyu.” Ayano answered. “I found myself concerned.”

“… Oh! That! You’ve got it wrong. My father doesn’t do anything to me!” She shook her head, as if showing more emotion might convince her more readily.

“Then… what does your father do? When he drinks?”

“He…” Kokona’s voice faltered, and she repeated the word a time or two before she finally responded- quietly and almost ashamed. “… He cries. He cries and talks about his debt problems.”

“Really…” Ayano did her best to sound interested and concerned, but just the same she knew it was hard to fake. But it seemed that now that Kokona had begun talking, the words were hard to stop.

“When my mom died last year, my family lost a lot of money… My dad took out a loan so that he could continue to pay for my tuition fees. But… it turns out he borrowed money from some really shady people. They raise the interest rate by 10% every ten days! And… they threaten to get violent with him if he doesn’t pay up.”

“Loan sharks, huh?” 

“I’m trying to help my dad get out of debt… I’m trying to earn money any way I can, but the only ways to make money fast are… gross…”

That explains the compensated dating, Ayano thought. “Who did your father get his loan from?”

“Um… I think it’s called… Ronshaku loans.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“What, no?! Please, don’t get involved. I doubt there’s anything you could do about it… I appreciate your concern, but I don’t think there’s anything else to be said… But… Thank you for letting me talk about my problems.” 

With that, Kokona left the rooftop, sniffling softly to herself as she walked down the stairs and went home. Meanwhile, Ayano wandered the rooftop, enjoying her vantage point. 

Immediately, two pieces of the puzzle had fit themselves together. Musume Ronshaku’s parents had to be the Ronshaku that Kokona’s father had gotten his loan from. And if Musume was still there…

Sure enough, she spotted her, hanging out near the furnace and smoking her pungent cigarettes again.

She had to move quickly, but soon enough, Ayano was headed home with a heavy instrument case, pretending to be a musician on her way home from a performance.

It’d take only a few moments to get a video to send to Musume’s father, and the silly girl made things easier.

She didn’t even have a passcode on her phone.


End file.
